Do you trust your elected representatives to responsibly spend your tax dollars?
A little research reveals several forms of wasteful, destructive spending. It appears that the Federal dollar is purely a political weapon to control policies and states.
Overview of the Federal Budget
Our total federal spending last year was $6.8 trillion*, and the total revenue was $4 trillion. This results in a $2.8 trillion deficit. The federal government has two main areas to spend its budget: mandatory and discretionary.
*$1 trillion = $1,000 times a billion, or, $1,000,000,000,000
Mandatory Spending: Mandatory spending has the approval of Congress. 64% of all federal money collected goes to “mandatory” spending on entitlements. The following chart explains the programs funded by the mandatory budget.
Discretionary Spending: Discretionary spending must be approved by Congress. Currently, 36% of all federal money goes toward discretionary spending. The following chart explains the distribution of discretionary funds.
Department of Defense: Our representatives need to learn how to balance Pentagon spending and spending on other national issues. And money spent on the war efforts (not preparedness) has led to additional costs related to: loss of military lives, nation-building, veteran care, and lost equipment. And money spent on DoD programs on unrelated activities, like climate change, CRT, and waste/fraud, means our money is not spent on genuine national security.
Growth of DoD expenses with no visible or realistic return:
DoD Waste of our Money: Even if we believe wars are necessary, we cannot forgive the financial mismanagement in the Pentagon. This is a waste of public money. The DoD wastes billions each year on back-office operations by civilians and contractors. The pentagon is an overstaffed and overfunded bureaucracy that matches the number of active combat troops. Besides, there are ineffective and abandoned weapons programs, i.e., Future Combat System Program, Comanche Helicopter, and Crusader Artillery Gun program, yet have cost us $46 billion. Similarly, Pentagon has wasted some $90 billion on other failed programs with costs in trillions, for example, efforts to replace the Bradley tank, develop the Ballistic Missile Defense system, and develop the F-35 Strike Fighter.
If one argues that wars are unnecessary, Washington spends money on wars that have no visible benefit or outcome for us or the people of that country. Instead, we pay the cost with the lives of our military and wasteful spending. The United States has spent more than 5 trillion dollars on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Americans must pay billions more in the coming decades to take care of the veterans. The money to finance the war comes from borrowings, increasing the national debt. According to researchers from Brown University, interest in the debt to fund the Afghan war is estimated at $500 billion. Experts believe that interest in the debt for Afghanistan’s war, alone, would exceed $6.5 trillion in the coming decades.
This debt is the equivalent of $20,000 debt for each US citizen.
Corporate Welfare: Washington spends more than $100 billion each year on corporate welfare, including the subsidy to selected commercial interests and private businesses. Welfare and subsidy are usually related to the neglected, poor, and underprivileged members of our society. Still, the federal government allocates taxpayer money to the most privileged. Financial assistance in the form of corporate welfare is often politically motivated to get political support instead of enhancing economic indicators.
Improper Payments: The federal government wastes taxpayers’ money by making improper payments. Since 2003 Washington has wasted $2.2 trillion in improper payments. In 2020-21 the federal government spent $487 billion in payments that were not our debt or had been made in an incorrect amount. The federal government has been wasting money for years and does not have the ability or determination to devise mechanisms to stop the misuse of public funds and fraud.
Other areas: There are embezzlement and fraudulent payments in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Billions in payments are wasted by paying ghost (dead) beneficiaries of different Social Security programs. Billions are wasted each year to maintain vacant federal properties. Flight tickets for federal employees and Pentagon officials were booked yet never used, and the government never bothered to obtain refunds. There is evidence of misuse of public money in the agriculture, food, and education departments. The list is long, and the people of the country continue to pay the costs.
The federal government wastes billions of dollars annually, and most Americans believe that nearly 51 cents of each dollar go to waste. Washington is aware of the problem but reluctant to break the status quo. The inaction of the government to deal with frauds and embezzlements results in the accumulation of national debt, which in turn creates multiple economic hurdles for us in terms of increased taxes, high inflation, and high cost of living. The government’s mismanagement of finances adds to our national debt; a debt that will have to be repaid by levying more taxes on Americans, which means the taxes will have to increase.
Enough is enough.
Congress has failed in its obligation to allocate funds correctly and has been unable to eliminate failed, outdated, duplicative, and wasteful programs. The national debt is increasing.
It’s time for the people of the United States to decide. How do we force our Washington representatives to be fiscally accountable? Unless forced, our representatives and the federal bureaucrats will never take care of your money as we do in our homes and businesses. Washington spends money on what they want and doesn’t care about wasteful spending.
This is not what we want nor how we want the funds treated.
The people of Michigan, not the politicians in Washington, should have the power to decide how, where, and how the money is spent. Shall we determine where the roads in Detroit should be built, what community development project should be funded in Warren, or how the educational dollars should be spent in Traverse City?
Fortunately, there is a way to curb government overreach and overspending. This power is given to us in Article V of the US Constitution, where states are given the right to propose amendments through a Convention of States.
It’s time for The People to take a stand. Together, we can curb government overreach.
If you want to stop the government from wasting your money, and you want a decision-making role where your money should be spent, help us mobilize public support in Michigan to join the 19 States that have passed the Convention of States Resolution and SIGN THE PETITION supporting Convention of States here in Michigan.
SOURCES:
1. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "National Data: National Income and Product Accounts: Table 1.1.5 Gross Domestic Product."
2. Bureau of Economic Analysis. "Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate), Corporate Profits (Revised Estimate), and GDP by Industry, Third Quarter 2021."
3. U.S. Treasury. "Historical Debt Outstanding."
